I think it’s pretty obvious at this point that Kip Moore is one of my favorite artists of all time.
He has integrity, makes the music he wants to, and has a live show that is second to absolutely no one in the business.
On top of all that, he does know how to write a pretty damn good song. And there’s one that doesn’t get the credit it deserves…
That would be “I’ve Been Around” from his third studio album Slowheart.
Released in 2017, I’ve always thought it was such a funny track that is super unique even within his own catalog alone.
It’s also one of his quirkier songs that has plenty of colorful lyrics and solid storytelling, but for some reason, seems to get lost in the shuffle when it comes to songs people often mention at the top of their lists.
Of course, all of his music is so good that it’s pretty easy to miss a few here and there, but I think this is one of his best.
He told Billboard the story of what inspired it and how he started to find himself in these crazy scenarios with all kinds of people he never imagined he’d meet as his career starting taking off (a few of which he describes in the song) and he almost couldn’t believe it was his real life:
“That song is basically me poking fun at the positions that I’ve found myself in from what has happened in my career.
I’m a kid from South Georgia that has spent most of his life running around barefoot with no shirt, at fishing holes and on backroads. It’s a look at some of the places I’ve been and the characters I’ve been around.
I’ve never cared about material things, but here I am hob-knobbing with these people and drinking thousand-dollar bottles of wine, when I’d be okay if it was a five dollar bottle from down the road.
It’s just kind of being silly about where my life can go at times.”
I feel like this is probably something that happens to most people who have the kind of success he has in any given career that’s come from a similar background, but to hear it told in such an over-the-top, grandiose and entertaining way is what makes him so unique.
From Kip meeting Alabama Hannah (not to be confused with Eric Church’s Alabama Hannah), to Alice at the diner, to him having coffee with the pope (which he didn’t actually do) and smoking cigarettes with Slash (which he confirmed on the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast a few years ago was actually Tom Petty’s Mike Campbell), everyone in the song is an exaggerated version of a real-life person:
“You make shit up every now and then.”
Instead of some boring, vanilla song about how he feels out of place in certain situations because of his humble beginnings and the small town he grew up in, he gives us this rockin’ jam of a song. It’s a huge part of what sets his music apart from so many other artists in Nashville in my opinion.
If you’ve never heard it before, take three minutes to listen to this gem. You’ll never be able to hear “maple bacon” the same way again:
